MAY 20, 2014: Carlos Mejia is seen here seconds before the two officers opened fire and he died.

SPD

She was shot by Officer Jeff Alford on Sept. 13, 2013 outside City Suds Laundromat on the corner of East Market and Pajaro streets. Police said she waived a knife at people in the laundromat and ignored police commands. At first, police thought they had just shot a man because of her masculine appearance.

On Friday, the 44-year-old Salinas woman was sentenced by a Monterey County judge to serve three years in prison.

Hale was convicted of one count of robbery. Prosecutors dropped additional charges against her, including brandishing a weapon.

She was also pretty lucky to be alive. Five men shot by Salinas police all died at the scene.

Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin explained that police officers are trained to "eliminate a threat," shooting vital zones from the waist-up. "We do not train to shoot people in the leg," he said.

There were zero officer-involved shootings in Salinas from January 2009-August 2012.

Earlier this month, Salinas City Attorney Chris Callihan denied a California Public Records Act request from KSBW to release information related to the two officer-involved shootings in Salinas in May. The focus of the request was on the names of the two officers who shot Osman Hernandez and Carlos Mejia.

Callihan said the city would not release the officers' names because they had received death threats. On Friday, KSBW and other news outlets sent a joint letter to the city objecting the city's position.

July 26, 2013: Juan Acuna was killed by Salinas police at 131 Kern St.

March 20: Angel Ruiz was armed with an Air soft pellet gun outside a restaurant on Constitution Boulevard.

May 9: Osman Hernandez, 26, was swinging a lettuce knife around in the air when police shot him in the head outside Mi Pueblo in a busy shopping center on East Alisal Street. Hernandez was clutching a lettuce knife and ignoring police commands, according to the police chief. Hernandez worked as a lettuce cutter for Salinas Valley farms.

May 20: Carlos Mejia, 44, of Salinas, was armed with gardening shears when he was followed by police down North Sanborn Road and died in front of several witnesses, including one witness who was recording with a camera. Police said he had threatened to kill a woman and they believed he could have hurt innocent bystanders if they let him walk away. John Burris, a civil rights attorney who represented Rodney King, filed a claim on behalf of Carlos Mejia's family.

McMillin said the officers who shot Ruiz and Hernandez did nothing wrong because the officers' lives were in danger. McMillin has not made a decision yet on whether Mejia's death was justified.